Book Review - Move Your Bus

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Move Your Bus 

By Ron Clark

On our last visit to the local library, as my kids were poring through the children's shelves, I skipped over to the business section and got my hand on this book.  What caught my attention was really just the title, "Move Your Bus" with a picture of a bus with legs instead of wheels.  

Plus the fact that it seemed like a short read (~150 pages, smaller size pages).

Turns out the book had some very unique perspectives on leadership.  The title didn't disappoint after all.

Introduction

Ron Clark, the author, is the founder of Ron Clark Academy (RCA), which is a very creative middle school in Atlanta, known for taking students on international trips, inviting educators to the school, and holding innovative competitions like this shake competition.

The book focuses on his experiences as a leader of RCA, so it's setup in a school setting with teachers as the employees.  However, the lessons learned can be applied to pretty much any sphere.

Get on the Bus

Ron sets up the book by noting that every organization can be compared to a bus.  The leader of the organization is the Driver.  The employees can be categorized into the following:

i) Rufus the Runner - comes early, loves the thrill of making the bus fly!

ii) Joan the Joggers - steady and methodical, does a thorough job but in a controlled pace.

iii) Wanda the Walker - lacks motivation and doesn't like change, usually wants to do the bare minimum.

iv) Ridley the Rider - dead weight, feels entitled to his job; usually only works when the boss is around.

Ron then goes on to discuss each category with plenty of examples, which makes the book so interesting and a very fast-pace read. 

Lessons Learned

Some key lessons that I learned:

1) Identify the character, personality, nature of each employee or direct/indirect reports in your team.

2) Take advantage of the strengths and weaknesses of each category.

3) Realize that if you can provide Runners with adequate resources, they'll run with it and excel.  Spend more resources on this category.

4) Joggers need recognition and that motivates them because otherwise they feel threatened by the Runners.

5) Show Walkers how to improve and set expectations very clearly with them.  Stay away from their pessimistic views as their negativity will cloud your judgement.

6) Riders are there for the sake of being there.  The best you can do with them is to give them the low-key and arduous tasks that don't have much significance on the overall project, but still have to be done nevertheless.

Overall

We all love stories, especially those that we can relate to.  This book is full of them.  Its a fun read and you learn plenty of tips on how to manage corporate politics.

As I said before, the title and cover picture was just on point.


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